Red hearts honour Canada's MMIW

Linda Mikolayenko | March 20, 2017

It is Valentine's Day, not
Remembrance Day, but the scene on the Kiskinwuhumatowin
Urban Reserve facing Lac La Ronge evokes images of Flanders Fields. Instead of
crosses, 1181 red hearts planted in rows in the snow honour the memory of
Canada's murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.

Many communities hold memorial
marches on February 14, but the Piwapin Women's Centre chose to create this
display for its visual impact, says Executive Director Karen Sanderson.

The number of hearts is
significant, as an RCMP report released in 2014 stated that at least 1181
Indigenous women and girls were murdered or went missing between 1980 and 2012.

Staff, clients, participants
in the Centre's outreach program, and community members all pitched in to make
the hearts and attach them to wooden stakes.

"We're just really in awe
of all the support that we received - all the help that came in when we started
this project, and we're very, very grateful that people have received it so
well," says Sanderson.

Some of the hearts included
names, while others also included photographs of the murdered and missing women
and girls.

The location of the display is
also significant. The urban reserve is the site of the former All Saints
Residential School.

"We wanted to put it in a
place that has some historical meaning for the community," explains
Sanderson.

Those who walked
through the display in the 36 hours it was up, and those who viewed it through thousands
of Facebook shares of photos and videos, were reminded of "generations of
women lost; girls lost," says Sanderson, her voice laden with emotion.
"For me, personally, it is to show they're not forgotten."